The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1887-12-28
STUDY OF MESMERISM.
SOME VERY CURIOUS EXPERIMENTS
MAZE AT THE CAPITAL.

Journalist crofat's Exhibition of Skill In
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Burglary Com
mittcd by ''sensitive"-Not So Sue
ccssfui with Another Subject.
W. A. Croffut has recently taken up the
study of mesmerism, or hypnotism, as the
scientists prefer to call IT, Mr.. Croffut
has developed considerable skill in this
direction, and the other night gave an ex-
hibition at his house before noteworthy
audience. Among others present were
Postmaster General Villas and his family,
Senator ingalls,, Senator Plat, of Con-
necticut; Gen. A. w. Greedy and his wife,
Admiral and Mrs Russell, Mr.. Coleman,
the commissioner of agriculture; Col
Nicolay, marshal of the United States SUI
preme court; Gen. Bryant, assistant at
torney general; Professor Thompson, of
the geological survey, and q number of
other scientific gentlemen and physicians.
Before beginning his experiments Mr..
Croffut explained that he had been very
much interested in reading, in Paris let
tiers, of the experiments conducted by Drs.
Charcot and Luys in Europe.
vfcARIoUs CRIAfINALIrY.
Mr.. Croffut remarked that the expert
mentation with dangerous drugs and
medicated compounds under scientific
conditions would be postponed to another
evening. but he would Immediately make
tests as to the vicarious commission OF
crime. After performing some minor ex-
periments and getting his subjects into
good condition, Mr.. Croffut attempted the
feat of compelling fellow being to coa-
nit crime by the force of his own will,
c.I1
One of the subjects, young woman en-
ployed in the government printing office,
was told to go into the audience and pick
the ladies' pockets. She manifested great
horror of the act and refused, but by am
imperative command the mesmerizer in
duced her to comply, and without much
display of ingenuity she got a phantom
purse, not q real one, from Mrs. John C.
Fremont The experiment was not salts
factory as to the practical employment of
anagent.
Another sensitive, a clerk in depart
ment, was mcsmerized, and Mr.. Croffut
explained to him that in n house of one
of the ncighbors, in an upper chamber, in
q certain cerner and certain drawer in
the dressing case was pocketbook which
contained $4,000. lie described the stu
alton of the house infinitely, the way to
go there the arrangement of the dressing
case and SO on, repeating it over several
times until the subject had the geography
impressed upon his mind Then handing
him two keys he said:
THE larger key will open the front
door of the house and the smaller key will
open the drawer of the dressing case in
which the pocketboek will be found''
He told the young man that IL he would
+, 4 Ii.
the money. There was n good deal of dis
cussion between the mesmerist and his
subject concerning the liability of. discov-
cry and arrest, but when assured that
thcrc was not the slightest possibility of
anybody interfering with him, and that
there were no dogs about the place, he
consented to undertake the burglary.
Four or five gentlemen in the room were
asked to follow the subject on his trip.
Due arrangements had previously been
made with u neighbor to place the pocket
book in the situation described. The
young man ran out into the street, turned
the corner, and when he came to the
house described by Mr.. Croffut recognized
Il ut once by the description. He then
began 10 show the greatest degree of agi-
tation, looking neryously behind all the
tree boxes and around the corners, and
finally jumped over the fence, saying to
those who accompanied him us 'pals''--
of whose presence he seemed only half
conscious-that he did so lest the gate
should make noise.
NERVOUS AND CAUTIOUS.
When he reached the porch his nervous
ness seemed to increase, as well as his
caution; but he unlocked and opened the
door quietly, crept into the hallway.
looked round all the corners and into all
the rooms, found his way up stairs into
the apartment described, drew ont the
key, unlocked the drawer indicated and
found the pocket book. He was starting
away with it, when one of those who nc
companed him called his attention to tho
fact that he had left the drawer open, and
that he had better rcstore things as he
found them. He replied that that was
good idea, and doing SO, put the key in
his pocket. He then crept around the
room, looking into other places, and when
asked why he did so, replied that he was
looking for something else he could steal.
One of the party suggested to him that 1t
was q bad place to steal anything but
money, for jewelry could be traced while
money could not This seemed to strike
him as sensible, and he remarked that the
pocket book was full of bills, and he had
better be satisfied with what he had got
Then he crept down stairs with great
caution, shut and locked the front door
carefully after him, and reaching the
street, started to run like frightened
deer. One of his attendants caught him
by the arm and asked him where he was
going He said he was going home, but
the attendant suggested lie must return
to Mr.. Croffut's house and give him his
share of the money. The mesmerized
thief stopped moment and said: 'Yes,
1t would be mean not to give him his
share; he put us on to the job; we will go
back and deal square with him."
He returned to Mr. Croffut's house,
handed that gentleman the pocket book
and counting out $4,000 in imaginary
money, divided it equally between the
two.
This experiment seemed to demonstrate
that, proper conditions existing, crime
may be committed second hand through
mesmeric influences.
With another subject Mr.. Croffut was
not so successful. He convinced a young
man that his brother had been killed by
an Indian, whom he was advised to MUIR
der in revenge, and was told that he could
find him on the Capitol steps. The sensi-
tive, though generally obedient under
mesmcric influences, refused to halieve
such an absurd story, and after long
argument with Mr.. Croffut, in which the
subject showed as mach shrewdness as
the operator, declined to attempt the deed
he was urged to commit. Cor. New York
Tribune.